Amiri Baraka will deliver the keynote address for LHU's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration.

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. -Lock Haven University will host two special events for this year’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration on Wednesday, January 14 in Price Performance Center. Noted teacher, actor, poet, playwright and activist Amiri Baraka will deliver the keynote speech at 1:30 p.m. At 7:00 p.m., LHU will present a play entitled “The Meeting.” Both events are free and open to the public.

Baraka was born Everett LeRoi Jones. According to Albert Jones, LHU assistant to the president for social equity, “Mr. Baraka is an individual who has been at the forefront for justice, equity, and equal treatment of all people no matter their ethnicity or gender for the past 30 years.” Jones said, “Mr. Baraka brings a message of inspiration and motivation that comes from his history as a world-renowned author and poet.”

Baraka’s play “Dutchman” won an Obie award. Other honors and awards include the American Academy of Arts & Letters Award, the James Weldon Johnson medal for contributions to the arts, and grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and Poet Laureate of New Jersey.

The play “The Meeting” is a fictitious account of a conversation between Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and a representative from the Nation of Islam. They discuss their philosophies and explain how they are relevant in understanding the civil rights movement.

Jones expressed his hope that the community will join in this celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.